


Piotr Vorkosigan's Civil War.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: A Thousand Words, Civil War, Comment Fic, Community: fic_promptly, Piotr Vorkosigan Will Overthrow Any Damn Emperor He Pleases, Time Period: Night of Yuri Vorbarra's Massacre, Time Period: Reign of Ezar Vorbarra, Time Period: Reign of Yuri Vorbarra, Time Period: Yuri Vorbarra's Civil War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-17
Updated: 2010-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 22:33:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/117830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That peculiar proposition known as treason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Piotr Vorkosigan's Civil War.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**philomytha**](http://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/) 's prompt on [](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**fic_promptly**](http://fic-promptly.dreamwidth.org/) : _Vorkosigan saga, Piotr & or / Ezar, power and those who seek it_

He didn't send a death squad for Ezar.

Ezar considers that heavily while the general is pacing the room, simultaneously growling treason and plotting their first attack on Yuri's forces.

Ezar knows he needs to start thinking of him that way. _Yuri_ , not _The Emperor_. _Mad Yuri_ instead of _Cousin Yuri_ is also acceptable. Don't give him the titles he's supposed to have, either give him none or give him insults.

Ezar wonders if Yuri's generals are calling him _Ezar the Traitor_. They must call Xav something even worse.

As for the general, he doesn't seem to even notice the personal politics of it or the importance of whisper campaigns. Xav is working on spreading propaganda, making Ezar seem a more suitable choice than the Emperor who just ordered half his family executed in the night.

You don't choose your Emperor, Ezar had wanted to shout to Xav. But he wasn't that naive and he knew the history. You can't tell the proles this, he thinks cynically, because they would stage a Betan revolt, but just about every Emperor has ascended because they were chosen by the Counts, not by the previous Emperor. Counts can choose their successors. Emperors have to play favorites among their relatives and see who they can shove into power without upsetting the balance too much in Vorhartung Castle.

Ezar tracks his descent through Dorca's youngest brother. It gives him about as much right to take the throne as Dorca had. And that had been salic descent entirely.

And if we're going to balance this entire revolt on my suitability based on salic descent, Ezar thinks, there is a better candidate looking at me right now.

Aral Vorkosigan is sitting cross-legged on the floor, his hands weaving in and out of the controls on an old book reader, and he is staring back and forth between his father pacing the floor and Ezar, who Aral had been informed gravely was his new Emperor. Aral hadn't said a word since he had arrived. The boy had grown significantly since Ezar had seen him last, but he was still very short for his age. Aral Vorkosigan, Dorca's great-grandson through his second son.

But you can't put an eleven-year-old on the throne. Who would step forward as regent? Xav, with his brothers-right to take the throne from Yuri? The general, with his war record, stealing the throne for the Vorkosigans? Or Ezar Vorbarra, cousin to Dorca's descendants, protege of the man who lost his capital to the Cetagandans, and who was still unmarried?

Xav was working on it. He was trying to find his sister. Princess Lorena was Yuri's full sister and the widow of Count Vordarian. Yuri, Xav had told him with great assurance, would never have had the stomach to kill his sister. Ezar had looked at Aral, who still had dried blood smeared in his hair, and hadn't been so sure.

The throne belongs to the one who can steal it, one of the earliest Emperors had said before having half the Counts executed for backing the wrong side. Ezar might be dead by morning. Yuri's forces could catch up to them at any time. His own troops could turn on him. They could die of starvation in the winter. The last war had been fought for twenty years. Ezar needs to be thinking about things other than his family tree.

The general rests a hand on his shoulder. "Sire," he says formally, voice edged with concern. "You can't turn coward now. We're committed."

Ezar nods. "I know, General Vorkosigan," he says. "I was merely...considering failure."

The general snorts. "Well, don't. If we fail, we're dead and there's nothing for us to consider. We can't let ourselves fail."

Ezar nods towards the corner. "And what of young Lord Vorkosigan?" he asks in an undertone. "He shouldn't be here. You should hide him with Lord Vorpatril, my lord. I could die. The succession of this revolt needs to be clear from the outset or failure comes immediately if I die."

The general prickles all over. "No Vorkosigan will steal the throne, Ezar. If we were, we could have taken it from Yuri ourselves a decade ago and not needed your help."

"A war isn't a place for a child," Ezar says, trying a different track. The general has just lost his heir and his daughter and his wife. Surely he would understand an appeal to his remaining son's safety.

"He would be going to the preparatory academy when school began," the general says, "if we weren't on the run, spending all day preparing to be a soldier. I can give him that education right here, right now. And when," he continues with a particular stress, "we have won, Aral will be ahead of his age-mates by far, not stuck behind them. I refuse to allow him to lose time because of our mistakes in not going after Yuri sooner."

Yes, this was all coming together too quickly for Xav to have started it when he found out his son had been killed. Ezar has been trying not to wonder too hard about that. Had the original plan been for Xav to put Prince Ivan on the throne? Had the original plan been for Ezar to be killed if he wouldn't have swung onto the side of Xav and Vorkosigan? Was Ezar still, even now, simply a replacement for all the dead soldiers that Vorkosigan had failed? It seems the Cetagandan war has never ended. They are still fighting in the mountains against an enemy that could have subverted their own. They could be all around them, even now, even in this room.

Don't think about it too hard, boy, Ezar advises himself. That way madness lies. Just look at Yuri.

"You're right, General," Ezar says instead.

"You will be on the throne by Winterfair," General Vorkosigan promises him.

"I don't know which Winterfair," Vorkosigan adds after a moment. "But don't let that on. We need the propaganda."


End file.
